Why former convent in Eastchester will become apartments for adults with autism

In a former convent in Eastchester where Franciscan sisters lived for decades, workers are building apartments for adults on the autism spectrum.

Donna Maxon said the building’s new purpose will provide what she and other parents want as they age: a place where their adult sons and daughters lead lives of independence.

“To see that our children are OK, that they have a happy life, that they are safe, that they’re accepted, that they’re welcomed,” said Maxon, independent housing managing agent with ArchCare, the continuing care community of the Archdiocese of New York.

The St. Frances Cabrini Apartments at the Immaculate Conception Church – eight units each with their own kitchenettes as well as first-floor community/activity and dining spaces − are slated to open in 2024’s first quarter. ArchCare will lease the building from the parish.

Sixty people applied for the apartments by May's deadline, and a person does not have to be Catholic to apply.

The building is undergoing code upgrades and details, such as stained-glass windows, will be preserved at its Winter Hill Road location at the Parish of Immaculate Conception and Assumption of Our Lady. The property's other buildings including a school continue to be operated by the parish.

An additional apartment will be for the equivalent of a building superintendent, who will attend solely to building repair and upkeep. But the tenants will live on their own and have a tenants council that meets monthly.

In 1928, 15 women from the order of the Franciscan Sisters of Hastings-on-Hudson moved into the convent, living in small rooms and teaching at an elementary school in a separate building. The convent building expanded in the 1950s and at its peak 28 sisters resided there.

Their numbers fell over time and, in June 2012, the last two sisters left.

The building ended up heavily flooded. And in 2015, the Rev. Anthony Sorgie arrived as pastor. He said there’d been rumors the convent building would be taken down.

“And it’s so beautiful,” Sorgie said of the convent building, adding: “I set about the task of seeing if we could resurrect it, repair it, use it, lease it, rent it − never sell it.”

Four possibilities emerged: a retreat house, senior-citizen apartments, a grief-counseling space that would be operated by the Westchester Bereavement Center, and independent-living apartments for adults ages 20 to 40 on the autism spectrum.

While the archdiocese has created a number of senior housing developments, Sorgie said, there seemed to be a great need to provide for adults on the autism spectrum.

“This is a very important population, underserved,” Sorgie said.

The transformation of the convent to apartments for people with autism will be the archdiocese’s second in the state. The first one is operating on Staten Island.

Maxon said a group of parents who have special-needs children, adult children with autism, worked together to come up with the idea for the Eastchester apartments "that would provide the highest quality of life, maximum safety and dignity."

Maxon said there will be need for more such housing.

“We do live in a progressive state and we do want to see things moving forward and independent housing is a step in the right directions, a step forward," Maxon said, adding: "This is a life-saving option with the quality of life."

To help create the apartments, a $3.5 million grant was received from the private Mother Cabrini Health Foundation, which is separate from the Archdiocese.

Saky Yakas, architect on the project with New York City’s SLCS Architects, said the idea was to keep to the aesthetics of the original nearly 100-year-old building while upgrading for code requirements and modern living. He noted the apartments are close to the Tuckahoe Metro-North train station, which fits with a current movement toward having transit-oriented housing that’s walkable to downtowns.

“It’s a 21^st century sort of fit-out of a 1928 building,” Yakas said.

Over the past decade, the Archdiocese of New York has repurposed buildings that weren’t being used,  merged some parishes, closed some churches and sold off properties.

Michael McKinney covered growth and development in Westchester County and the Lower Hudson Valley for The Journal News/lohud.com and the USA Today Network.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Former convent in Eastchester will be housing for adults with autism